TOY STORY 3: Toy Movie 3 Is the Greatest Movie of All Time

Twenty years ago Pixar Animation Studios revolutionized cinema with the first full length completely computer-generated film. Two decades later and Pixar is still one of the most consistently groundbreaking studios in the business. Leading up to the release of their new film The Good Dinosaur, I will be going through Pixar's entire filmography at the rate of two movies a week. Here comes Toy Story 3, a film that many young adults got weepy about.

Other Reviews in this Series.

Director: Lee Unkrich
Writers: John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Michael Arndt
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, John Morris, Jodi Benson, Blake Clark, Emily Hahn, Laurie Metcalf
Runtime: 103 mins.
2010

As much as any person has ever been a target demographic, I was the target demographic for Toy Story 3. As I relayed in my Toy Story review, Toy Story was the first movie I ever saw in a movie theater, and I was obsessed with it during my youth. I owned my own Woody doll and Buzz Lightyear action figure. I had a Rex and a Mr. Potato Head. I grew up with these characters. My fondness for the franchise was something my whole family shared. It wasn't a case of parents tolerating their kids' fixation with some dumb cartoon, as I imagine is the case with movies like Cars. We could pop Toy Story in any time and everyone would enjoy it.

Fast forward fifteen years to 2010. I had just graduated high school and was sliding my way through the last summer I would have before going away to college. That's a terrifying time, full of anticipation both hopeful and anxious. There is a pervasive sense that you are about to take an unknowable leap forward, so you also spend quite a bit of time looking back.

Lo and behold, along comes Toy Story 3, a movie about a grown up Andy getting ready to go off to college, and the trauma faced by his forgotten toys. Andy's arc is relatively minor within the plot of the movie, but it is the emotional underpinning of everything that happens: he must learn to let the toys of his youth go, and in doing so leave them in a more caring environment than he would be able to provide. The final goodbye of Toy Story 3 hit me hard. I know many people felt this, but it was as if the movie was speaking directly to me. This franchise had raised me, and now it was time for me to move on.


Few movies in my life have impacted me so acutely, a feeling that was common enough among certain demographics that Rotten Tomatoes actually had to shut down the Toy Story 3 thread because people overloaded the system with nasty comments on the one or two negative reviews that kept it from reaching 100%. The only other time I have seen this was surrounding The Dark Knight Rises; the Batman fanbase is another group known for unhealthy and retrogressive obsession.

Toy Story 3 is toying with nostalgia in an interesting and complex way, which sparks both meaningful emotions and unhealthy overreactions in its audience. This exact phenomenon was lampooned brilliantly in the Adult Swim show China, IL, a bizarre cartoon about professors and students at the worst college in the country. Throughout the entire episode, everyone the main character encounters insists that "Toy Movie 3" is the best movie they've ever seen. He tries and fails to skirt the issue. If you want to watch the payoff to the joke here are a couple short videos.

http://www.adultswim.com/videos/china-il/rotten-tomato/

http://www.adultswim.com/videos/china-il/modern-slavery/

The point is, when a vast throng of people insist that it's not possible for you to not love a piece of entertainment, there's probably something else going on there. In this case, the underlying issue is nostalgia, which acts as both the movie's greatest weapon and its Achilles' heel.

Toy Story 3 traffics openly in nostalgia. The very existence of the movie, over a decade after the previous entry, is predicated upon the wistful thrill of seeing our old favorite characters reunited and having a new adventure. Yet the opening sequence is a beat-for-beat recreation of the opening play sequence from the first Toy Story, this time from the toys' perspective. This is a pointed choice, one that allows the film to put on a display of all the technological advances that have come to pass since Pixar's first outing. But it also functions as an indicator of retreads to come. A great deal of the plot and character beats are recycled from the earlier entries. Each movie has dealt with the existential horror of being forgotten by the one you love, but the beats hit by Toy Story 3 are super similar to those in Toy Story 2, particularly a lost-toy flashback sequence that is a less effective version of Jessie's iconic scene. Even the main antagonist, Lotso Huggin Bear, is just a slightly more appealing version of Toy Story 2's Stinky Pete.

These shadowbeats can't be an accident. I doubt that Pixar simply ran out of ideas. They're making a clear comment about love and nostalgia. Yet they can't avoid the thematic pitfalls of dealing with nostalgia: namely that the current film is bound to be less dynamic than something wholly original. Toy Story 3 is a good film, but it's a film that is not as good as everyone felt it was in the moment of its release.

The film had the good impulse to structure the second act as a prison break thriller, which is what keeps the whole thing from feeling like a by-the-numbers retread. We have seen breakout situations several times in this franchise already, to be sure, but nothing so detailed or in depth. It's an exciting sequence, showcasing what has always been a defining trait of these toys--their resourcefulness. It's great to see our favorites working together, and dealing with new hurdles such as a Buzz Lightyear who is stuck in Spanish mode (which is one of the few excellent jokes in what is a funny-but-not-hilarious movie).

The worldbuilding of the film is, as usual, stupendous. We are introduced to vast numbers of new toys, and their personalities are immediately established by one line, or even a single gesture. Barbie and Ken manage to carve out great characters for themselves despite the crowded cast. The environments are evocative and fully realized, none moreso than the existential nightmare of the garbage processing furnace. That imagery is ripped straight out of Dante, a bold choice for a child-aimed feature.

But that's not really what Toy Story 3 is, is it? Child-aimed. It's clear that this is a children's movie aimed at teenagers. And it works, as evidenced by the rampant and rabid support it received upon release. Even so, the movie may know exactly what it is, and succeed in communicating that identity, but it's more watered down than Pixar's previous run of loud and proud masterpieces. Nevertheless, it is a more than satisfying conclusion to a legendary trilogy that apparently will not remain a trilogy for long.

3.5 / 5  BLOBS

The Short: Day & Night

Pixar's shorts are always well-executed, but every once in a while they tell a story in such a novel way that it transcends pleasure and becomes revolutionary. Day & Night issues from just such an idea. Here a 3D world is represented through the...window? lens?... of two 2D animated characters, one of whom shows the landscape during the day, and the other during the night. At first they are at odds, but they come to appreciate each other through shared experiences, a process that culminates in their listening to a radio broadcast about the unhealthy fear people have of the new and unknown. It could be such a cheesy moment, but it totally works after the energy of what has come before.

In addition to all that, the 2D characters express themselves through familiar stock cartoon communication shorthand. For example, a dolphin sound when a character is attracted to someone, or a rooster crow when they are waking up. But the incredible part is that all the verbal communication these characters share is actually worked into the fabric of the 3D world: When Day is angry, a swarm of bees start buzzing through his body. When he's going to the bathroom, he stands in front of a waterfall.

I can't praise this short enough. It's one of the most inventive pieces of animation I've encountered, and to top it all off it presents an incredible message about diversity. This would do well to be required viewing for the human race.

5/5